


Diplomacy, or How to Have a Relationship After Saving the World

by cloudymagnolia



Series: Unbendable [2]
Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: Aang-pov, All The Dick Jokes, F/M, Toph being a jerk, Zuko-pov, new couples
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-23
Updated: 2018-12-23
Packaged: 2019-09-25 12:35:45
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 5,977
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17121482
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cloudymagnolia/pseuds/cloudymagnolia
Summary: You might have thought meeting the love of your life as a twelve year old would make puberty less awkward. You would be wrong.





	1. Diplomacy

It was the sixth day since the Earth King’s reinstature ceremony. “Team Avatar,” as Sokka still insisted on calling them, were staying in the rooms on the second floor of the Jasmine Dragon while the official peace negotiations were ongoing. It came as no surprise to Zuko, who had been raised on politics and diplomacy, that in the past five days the only consensus that had been reached was that War Is Bad. Tomorrow, he hoped to take some radical steps towards a new idea, The One Hundred Year Was Was the Fire Nation’s Fault. 

The talks today were particularly annoying, he mused, as he took a sip of the disgusting tea they had been served. It was probably because they had been the first ones without Mai.

The first days of negotiations had been public - an overt display to the people of all four nations that the Fire Nation was committed to this new peace. Those talks had been held in one of the Earth Palace’s many ballrooms. Zuko, Aang, Katara, and Sokka had each had a seat at the high table, along with Earth King Kuei and a handful of Earth Kingdom and Fire Nation ministers. The rest of the ballroom was standing room only - it seemed that the whole  _ world  _ wanted to be there to witness the formal cessation of hostilities.

The ballroom’s upper gallery had been set aside for honored guests - mostly ministers and noblemen who weren’t high-ranking enough to get a seat at the table, but were still needed to be seen to be there. That’s where Mai sat, both as an official representative of the Fire Nation’s nobility, and as Zuko’s girlfriend. It was… comforting to look up and see her there, as the talks dragged on. He enjoyed seeing her roll her eyes - as he wished he could do - when one of the ministers said something particularly ridiculous. Some of the Earth King’s cabinet clearly harbored dreams of subjugating the Fire Nation through crippling reparations, although they dressed it up in prettier words than that. It wasn’t just because he was the Lord of the Fire Nation that he thought the idea was idiotic. That would just lead to  _ another _ endless war.

But today had been the first day of closed-door discussions, and they had traded the ballroom for a heavily-guarded cabinet room in the Earth King’s private wing of the palace. This was supposed to be where the  _ real  _ work would be done - where the Fire Lord, the Earth King, and the Avatar would decide how to bring the world into a new age of peace.

Not that Aang was in much of a state to make any kind of  _ real  _ contribution. He was too busy making eyes at Katara to notice much of anything else. 

On the one hand, Zuko got it. Aang was thirteen, and he had just made the score of the century by landing a hot, fifteen year old girlfriend. He could understand why he was so lovestruck. But it was pretty annoying to have to keep kicking him under the table each time he totally zoned out of the meeting while gazing at Katara and blushing.

Zuko had to kick him twice more before the meeting ended, while two more Earth Ministers spoke for what felt like multiple  _ years _ about fishing rights, of all things. But the meeting did end - eventually.

They were just standing up, pushing in chairs and discreetly stretching, when the Earth King asked the Avatar to stay back.

He, Katara, and Sokka all paused, looking to Aang.

“You guys go on ahead. I’ll catch up later.”

At his words, the guards lining the room moved into formation around the three of them, escorting them out of the Earth King’s private wing and back to the palace gate.

As soon as they started moving, Sokka and Katara fell into step on either side of him. He saw one or two of the guards frown. He wasn’t entirely sure why. Ba Sing Se was almost as stuffy and protocol-driven as the Royal City back in the Fire Nation was; it  _ might  _ have been because two commoners were walking side-by-side with a head of state. But then again, nearly every Earth Kingdom soldier in the city had reason to want revenge on the Fire Nation. They could just as easily be disappointed that they’d have to get through two Water Tribe warriors if they wanted to take a pot shot at Zuko.

The guards left them at the main palace wall, bowing them through the gate and closing it after them. Zuko  _ felt  _ all three of them relax as soon as they were alone.

“Why do they always do that?” Sokka asked, sticking a finger in his ear and wiggling it around. “Why do they give us a military escort  _ inside  _ the palace but not  _ outside  _ the palace? That doesn’t even make sense!”

“It does if they’re guarding the palace from  _ us _ ,” Katara said.

“Hey, I’m not complaining,” Zuko said. He pulled his fire pick out of his hair. 

“Neither am I,” Katara said. The three of them started walking towards Uncle’s shop. “Those guys are creepy.”

“Man, that was awful,” Sokka said. “Zuko, you’re telling me that this is going to be your  _ job _ ? For the rest of your  _ life _ ?”

“The talks today weren’t  _ that  _ bad,” Katara said.

“No - they were much, much worse.”

“How would you know? You weren’t even paying attention! I thought the stuff at the end about fishing rights in international waters was pretty interesting.”

Sokka caught Zuko’s eye and made a face. Zuko grinned - but only after making absolutely certain that Katara couldn’t see.

They took a shortcut across the canal - Katara made an ice bridge for them so they didn’t have to go out of their way - and made it to the Jasmine Dragon in a matter of minutes.

Mai, Toph, and Suki were all waiting for them when they got there. Zuko went straight to Mai and kissed her. In return, she helped him lift the Fire Lord’s cloak off over his head.

“So, what did you do today?” he asked her as he hung up his cloak.

“Eh. Hung around.”

Suki snorted. “That’s  _ one  _ way of putting it. Someone tried to sneak a captive badgermole into a black market animal auction this morning.”

“What happened?” Zuko asked.

“I did.”

He turned around to see Toph sitting back, her feet resting on a table. Someone had thoughtfully put an oil cloth down to protect the table from her grime.

“Oh.” Zuko could fill in the missing details. “Did you have fun?” he asked, sitting down and throwing an arm around her shoulders. 

“It wasn’t as boring as it could’ve been,” Mai said, resting her head on Zuko’s shoulder. Zuko raised his eyebrows. That was high praise, coming from Mai. “But it would’ve been even  _ less  _ boring if you had been there, too.”

He smiled and tucked her a little more firmly against him.

“So, what are we doing tonight?” Toph asked. “Iroh went to go play Tic Tac Toe-”

“Pai Sho,” Zuko corrected.

“Whatever. So someone’s going to have to cook dinner.”

Automatically, Toph, Sokka, and Zuko looked at Katara. 

“Why is everyone looking at me?” she asked.

“Because we’re hungry, and you’re not in the kitchen,” Sokka said. “Ow!” Suki had elbowed him in the ribs. 

“Why is it  _ my  _ job to cook  _ your  _ dinner?” she asked, putting her hands on her hips.

“Because you like all that nurturing stuff,” Sokka said. Katara glowered at him. “Besides, you know how to cook.”

“You can’t expect me to believe that of the  _ six  _ of us, I’m the only one who knows how to cook!” Katara said, throwing up her hands. “Maybe -” she looked around, considering her options. “Maybe  _ Mai  _ or  _ Suki _ would like to cook!”

“I don’t know how,” Mai said. “I’ve always had servants to do it for me.”

“I don’t think Iroh wants me back in his kitchen after what happened last time,” Suki said.

“Blind.”

“You  _ know  _ I can’t cook,” Sokka said.

“Oh, for!” Katara smacked her forehead with the butt of her hand.

Zuko was relieved she hadn’t asked  _ him  _ if he could cook. He actually could - it was something he and his mother had done together when he was young - but he was much too comfortable with his arm around Mai to volunteer the information now. 

“Well, I’m  _ not _ going to cook! I can’t. Aang and I have plans,” Katara said.

“Relax, Sugar Queen,” Toph said. “Aren’t we all forgetting something?”

Everyone turned to look at her.

“Oh, for -  _ we’re not fugitives anymore _ ! We’re the heroes who saved the world! Any restaurateur in town would  _ trip _ over himself to give us dinner on the house! And before you start on me, Sweetness, may I also point out that Zuko is the  _ Fire Lord _ ? We  _ have  _ money!” Toph swung her feet off the table, and they landed on the floor with a  _ fwump _ . “Let’s just get takeout, courtesy of the Fire Nation.”

There were murmurs of agreement, and after a moment’s hesitation, Zuko nodded. He didn’t love the idea of wasting his people’s tax money on expensive takeout because they were all too lazy to cook, but, to be fair, it paled in comparison to the tax burden of an endless war.

“So what’s around here?” Toph asked, looking at - or at least pointing her face towards - Sokka.

“Ooh! I have takeout menus!” Sokka said, leaping to his feet. Suki had been leaning against him, but she caught her balance with a true warrior’s grace. “I’ll let you take a look, Toph!”

Toph flicked a pebble and bounced it off his head.

“I mean, I’ll read them to you!”

Beside him, he  _ felt _ Mai roll her eyes. She turned her attention towards Katara. 

“So you and Aang are going on a date, huh?” she asked. She often seemed interested in what the younger couple was doing. She had taken to watching the two of them in the evenings, a look of revolted fascination on her face.

Katara went pink.

“I g-guess so,” she said.

“Let me guess. Your first  _ official  _ date.”

“I didn’t really think about it like that, but - yeah.”

“Blecch,” Toph said. “How can you guys stand to spend so much time together? Weren’t you just together all  _ day _ ?”

“Well, that was different,” Katara said. “We didn’t really get to spend any time alone -”

“Why would you  _ want  _ to, when he’s acting all lovesick and gooey around you? Don’t you get  _ tired  _ of him wanting to hold your hand all the time? Of him -  _ gazing _ at you and  _ sighing _ ?”

All side chatter stopped. Everyone was looking at Toph and Katara. He had wondered something similar himself earlier that week, when they had all gone to the market together and Aang and insisted on carrying her purchases for her. It looked like  _ everyone  _ had been wondering when Katara would get sick of him acting like a - well, like a lovesick thirteen year old.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” she started to say, but then Toph pointedly shifted her feet so they were facing her. “Okay, so all the attention can get to be a bit much,” she admitted. “But this is still new, and it’s how he’s showing me that he cares. I’m sure he’ll calm down in a couple of days.”

“Yeah, good luck with that,” Sokka said. 

“Speaking of which, he’s back,” Toph said, pointing up. He frequently flew home from the Earth King’s palace to avoid the creepy honor guard, landing in his room through the perpetually opened window and putting his staff away before coming downstairs.

“Oh, good,” Katara said. Her face was flushed - she was obviously glad to have a reason to change the subject. “I’ll go upstairs and see if there’s anything he wants to eat.”

“So what are our options?” Toph asked, turning her attention back to the matter at hand.

Sokka never got a chance to answer.

“ _ Katara! _ ” came a horrified voice from the second floor. “Why didn’t you  _ knock _ ?”

“Sorry! I’m sorry!”

From the second floor, a door slammed.

Zuko and Sokka looked at each other, horrified. It made sense - what thirteen year old boy  _ wouldn’t  _ need a release after staring at his hot new girlfriend all day? But somehow Zuko had always thought of Aang as a little kid - and judging from Sokka’s face, this was in ‘fate worse than death’ territory for him.

A moment later, Katara reappeared, her face and neck a vivid red.

“Okay,” she said, pressing the backs of her hands to her cheeks. “That was  _ really _ stupid of me.” 

Toph snorted. “Got an eyeful, Princess?” she asked. Zuko turned to look at her, shocked, while Sokka hit his forehead with the butt of his hand.

“Yeah,“ Katara muttered, but then her eyes flew wide. “ _ No! _ ” she said, horror in the syllable. “It was nothing like  _ that _ ! He was  _ changing _ !”

“Nice save,” Toph snickered. Then: “Relax, Katara. It’s no big deal. All boys do it.”

“Aren’t you  _ twelve _ ?” Zuko asked, unable to contain himself.

“So?” Toph said. “Aang’s only thirteen. Besides, until I met you guys, all my friends were animals. Badgermoles aren’t exactly  _ discreet  _ about sex.”

“ _ Ugh _ .” Katara made a retching sound. “I don’t think I want to listen to this. I’m going to feed Appa.”

Toph snickered again, a maniacal edge to the noise, and then turned her face towards the stairs. A moment later, Aang appeared, dressed not in his official Avatar robes but the one-shouldered tunic he wore in hot weather. Aang was blushing, too, but not as badly as Katara. 

“Ugh,” he said, walking into the room. He went straight to the sofa and flung himself over the arm, landing on his back with a _fwump_. “That was... embarrassing.” He scrubbed his hands over his face.

“So,” Toph said, still grinning like a lunatic. “Katara caught you…  _ changing _ , huh?”

Neither Zuko nor Sokka dared say anything.

“Why did you say changing like that?” Aang asked, lifting his head to look at her.

“Wait - you mean you really  _ were  _ just changing Twinkletoes?” Toph asked. “Then what’s the big deal?”

“The big  _ deal _ ?” Aang asked. “ _ Katara  _ just saw me  _ naked _ . I don’t want Katara to see me naked!”

There was a thoughtful silence.

“I mean - I  _ do _ , obviously, but not like  _ that _ !”

Sokka made a gagging sound. “Okay,” he said. “Because you’re like a brother to me, and because we need to get dinner ordered sometime this  _ week _ , I’ll just forget you said that last part. Anyways, it really  _ is _ no big deal. It’s nothing Katara hasn’t seen before.”

“It’s different when it’s  _ me _ , okay Sokka?” Aang said. “I know she’s a healer, and I’m sure she has seen guys naked before - even if I don’t want to think about that - but -”

“She’s seen  _ you  _ naked before, too,” Toph interrupted.

Aang stared.

“What? No, she hasn’t.”

Toph and Sokka traded looks.

“Yeah, she has,” Sokka said.

Mai voiced Zuko’s feelings perfectly when she asked: “Why is there so much confusion over whether or not Katara has seen Aang naked?”

Toph sighed.

“Look, Twinkletoes,” she said. “When you woke up on the Fire Navy ship after the fall of Ba Sing Se, how did you feel?”

“Like Azula had just shot me through the heart with lightning,” Aang said.

Zuko winced. He knew how much that hurt.

“Yeah, but did you feel like you’d been lying unconscious for  _ four weeks _ ?”

He raised his eyebrows. He’d had no idea that Aang had been out for so long.

“I guess not,” Aang said.

“And why do you think that was, Twinkletoes?”

“I guess because I’m the Avatar,” Aang said. “I didn’t feel like I’d been frozen in ice for a hundred years when I woke up from that, either.”

“Why, you ungrateful little -” Sokka spluttered, choking on outrage. Another rock to the head silenced him.

“ _ No _ , you dunderhead,” Toph said. “It was because Katara had been taking care of you.”

“Not just  _ taking care  _ of him,” Sokka burst out. “She nursed him for  _ four weeks _ ! She did literally  _ everything  _ for him!”

Aang looked at the two of them.

“I didn’t know that,” he said finally.

Just at that moment, the front doors swung wide.

“Iroh is back,” Katara said, Uncle just behind her. She looked better - Uncle had probably talked to her. “Did we decide where we’re ordering dinner?”

“Hey, kids,” Uncle said. “What did I miss?”

“Katara!” Sokka said, turning to her. “Did you know Aang never even realized  _ you  _ were the one taking care of him on the Fire Navy ship?”

Katara’s eyes slid from Sokka to Aang.

“And you  _ told  _ him?” she said, rounding on her brother.

“Of  _ course _ I told him! The real question is why didn’t  _ you  _ tell him?”

She stared at him, open-mouthed, for just a moment.

“Because I didn’t want him to  _ know! _ ” she yelled. Her eyes swept around the room. “ _ Ugh _ !” she yelled, stomping her foot, and then pivoted on her heel and stormed upstairs. A moment later, a door slammed. 

Zuko found himself relieved in spite of himself. He had only ever witnessed one true knock-down, drag-out fight between the siblings, and it had ended with  _ everyone  _ frozen in ice.

“Well,” Uncle said after a long moment of silence. “I see you all have had an exciting afternoon! Why don’t I make us some calming Ginseng tea?”


	2. How to Have a Relationship After Saving the World

Aang was quiet as Iroh made the tea. He should have known today was going to be one of _those_ days as soon as the Earth King had asked him to stay back after the meeting. It turned out that he had wanted his advice on how to regain his people’s trust, after he’d lost his capitol city to Azula and disappeared during the interregnum. The Earth King was a well-intentioned guy, and he honestly had his people’s best interests at heart, but he had spent too long relying on his councilors to make the tough decisions for him. Plus, Aang had _no idea_ how a ruler went about regaining the trust of his subjects. The Air Nomads hadn’t _had_ rulers - they’d made decisions by consensus. As a result, political theory hadn’t exactly been a hot topic of conversation at the Southern Air Temple while Aang was growing up.

Eventually, he’d managed to get away by spouting some spiritual mumbo-jumbo about trusting your inner heart. Then he’d hopped on his glider and escaped out one of the windows before the Earth King had had a chance to react.

Honestly, Aang thought as he’d flown home. He was _thirteen._ He’d already defeated the Fire Lord - hadn’t he done enough for the world this month? All he wanted was to be left alone so that he could take his girlfriend on a date!

He doubted the date was going to happen now, he thought as he accepted a cup of tea. The day had been a total komodorhino wreck. He wouldn’t be surprised if Katara never wanted to _see_ him again, none the less go out with him.

“Aang,” Iroh said, pouring a second cup. “Would you like to take this upstairs to Katara?”

“I don’t think that’s such a good idea,” he said, looking down. “I don’t think she wants to see me right now. You weren’t here, but earlier-”

“She walked in on you changing,” Iroh said. “She told me. An embarrassing ordeal for a new couple.”

“And then there was all - all _that_.” He waved his hand to indicate the raised voices and harsh words.

“You are wise to err on the side of caution when it comes to ladies, young Avatar,” Iroh said gravely. “But in this instance, I urge you to trust in my superior experience. I think Katara will be grateful to see you.”

Aang looked up. Iroh’s parental smile always reminded him a little bit of Gyatso.

“Okay,” he said. Iroh got him a tray and placed both his and Katara’s cups on it. Aang did his best to ignore the five pairs of eyes and one pair of feet following his every move as he took it and walked upstairs.

He paused for a second outside of Katara’s door, steeling himself.

“Katara?” he called. “May I come in?”

“No!”

The reply was immediate, but it sounded more like a reflex than an answer. Aang scrunched up his nose. _Now_ what was he supposed to do?

“Iroh made you tea,” he tried.

There was silence from behind the door. In his experience, that was a promising sign with Katara.

“I’m coming in,” he said, and waited a second, wanting to give her plenty of time to freeze the door shut if she really didn’t want company. It swung open easily when he nudged it with his foot, and he peeked inside.

Katara was sitting on her bed with her knees drawn up to her chest and her arms circling her legs. She didn’t look up as he stepped in and used a foot to ease the door shut behind him.

“Hi, Aang.”

“You want some tea?” he asked. He sat on the edge of her bed so he could place the tea tray in front of her.

“Thank you.” She took the cup nearest her and cradled it in her hands. He watched her blow on it and take a sip.

“Do you… want to talk about it?” he asked.

“No.”

This time, there was utter certainty in her voice. Aang looked down, unsure of what to say.

The silence between them was… awkward. He had used to think that, once he and Katara started dating, all the awkwardness and tension between them would just melt away.

And in a sense, he had been right. Dating Katara felt _right_ in a way that nothing else ever had. Not even learning Airbending as a child had made him feel this whole, this completed, this giddy with joy.

But in another sense, he had been very, very wrong. Dating Katara had revealed new, oceanic depths of embarrassment that he’d never even known _existed_ before. He felt a blush rising in his cheeks as he heard again in his mind the sound of his door swinging open. He had been swapping out his scratchy official robes with an everyday tunic and trousers, and had decided he’d better change his underwear, too. Anyone else walking in on him would have been bad enough, but _Katara_ getting an eyeful of his bare behind as he wobbled, half in and half out of his clothes, had been -

Well, it would probably end up being one of those memories he would lie awake at night, _years_ from now, wishing he could forget.

“Do you… want me to leave?” he asked finally, when he couldn’t stand it anymore.

“Not really,” Katara said. She was still staring into her cup. “Not unless you want to.”

He kind of did want to, actually, but the Earthbender in him was telling him to stand his ground.

“Is…” he cleared his throat. “Is there anything you want me to… do?”

“You could put your arm around me,” she said. Her cheeks turned pink. “I mean - if you want - if you… don’t mind.”

He didn’t mind - and even if he did, after all that had happened today, he’d rather _die_ than admit it. He shifted so he was sitting closer to her on the bed and draped an arm over her shoulders.

He felt ridiculous. He was _sure_ he was doing this wrong, which didn’t make any _sense._ He had put his arm around her _hundreds_ of times over the past year, to comfort her, or get her attention, or even for the sheer exhilaration of touch. Shouldn’t this be _easier_ now that he was her boyfriend?

Although… was it his imagination, or were her shoulders a little less stiff than they had been before?

Tentatively, he moved his arm down so he could hold her a little more securely. She sighed, and he felt her relax, the tension beginning to drain away from her shoulders and neck. As it did, she curled into him so that her head was resting on him and her curves were pressed into his side.

Emboldened, he dropped his hand down to cuddle her waist and lay his own head on top of hers. He loved the feeling of her soft hair against his cheek. He used his free hand to grab one of Katara’s, interlacing their fingers and using his thumb to draw spirals on the back of her hand.

She sighed again, but now it was recognizably a contented sound. Aang felt a happy flush rising in his cheeks.

He marvelled at how beautifully their bodies fit together. If you were looking down at them from above, only their different coloring would give away where one body ended and another began. Maybe this day wouldn’t end up being so bad, after all.

That had been what jinxed it, Aang would think later. No sooner had Katara’s breath become deep and slow and even than the thought shot across his brain:

 _I’m alone. With my girlfriend. In her room. On her_ bed.

Without any input from him, his treacherous mind conjured up _another_ image of what they could be doing, alone in her bed. Before he could banish the daydream, he felt his body reacting to it.

He yelped and pushed Katara away from him. She, in turn, squawked at the suddenness of the movement.

“Aang, are you okay?” she asked, but he had already gotten up. Before he could take more than a step, she had grabbed his wrist and pulled him back around to face her.

“Aang, what happened? What’s wrong?”

He stood immobile, hoping she wouldn’t notice his erection under the folds of his tunic. Something about his stiff posture and incandescent blush must have given it away, though. He watched as she glanced from his face down to the crotch of his trousers. By the time her eyes returned to his, she was blushing, too, although not quite as brilliantly as he was.

“Oh,” she said, letting go of his wrist. “I’m - sorry.”

He stood rooted to the spot. He wanted nothing more than to make an air scooter and dash for the haven of his own room, but now that she’d seen, what would be the point?

“This is _so_ embarrassing,” he said, thinking out loud, burying his face in his hands.

From a few feet away, he heard Katara… _giggle_.

He mastered the urge - barely - to hide himself behind his hands, knowing that would only make it worse. He felt his blush spread down to his neck and then to his chest as he panicked. No one had ever really seen him like this before, even over his clothes. Was he humorously tiny? Or grotesquely large? Or the wrong shape entirely? Or -

“I’m so sorry, Aang,” Katara managed to say through her fit of giggles. “It’s just, this whole _day_ has been so embarrassing. Do you think we accidentally offended some spirit of new relationships? I can’t think what else - I mean, what are the _chances_?”

Slowly, Aang peaked out from behind his fingers. Katara was grinning, but it was warm and inclusive, and there was kindness and compassion in her eyes.

She held out her hands to him, and Aang took them, only a _little_ reluctantly. She pulled him back down onto the bed, where he immediately drew his knees up to his chest, shielding himself from view. She sat cross legged next to him, not touching him.

“It if makes you feel any better, we’ve _both_ been mortified today. I can’t believe I was stupid enough to barge into your room without knocking first.”

“That doesn’t even seem that bad anymore,” he muttered. “At least _that_ was something you’d seen before, even if I didn’t know it at the time.”

Beside him, Katara conspicuously froze.

He groaned and buried his face in his knees.

“Oh, for the grace of the spirits…”

“I’m sorry,” Katara finally said. “The body doesn’t stop functioning when it’s asleep. It still reacts to things the way it always would.”

“So when I was in that coma, I…?” He couldn’t even bring himself to finish the sentence.

“I had to be really careful when I was bathing you, to make sure I didn’t accidentally make something happen.”

Aang pressed his closed eyes against his knees until neon clouds bloomed on the backs of his eyelids.

And he’d thought the day couldn’t get any worse.

“That’s why I didn’t want you to know,” Katara said. Her voice was so quiet it was hard to hear. “Why I got so made at Sokka for telling you. I didn’t want you to feel embarrassed. I thought it might upset you, if you found out, and I guess I didn’t want you to be angry with me.”

“Katara, why would I be _angry_ with you?” he said, forcing himself to look up. She had mirrored his posture while she’d been talking, and now she was resting her chin on her knees, eyes downcast.

“Caring for someone like that, it’s… intimate. I broke a lot of boundaries between us. Ones you hadn’t given me permission to break.”

“Katara,” he said. “You literally brought me back to life. I’d never be angry at you for having to violate my privacy to do it.”

She kept looking down, and suddenly he wondered what it would have been like for him, if _her_ spirit had been the one to recede from its body for a month.

“What… was it like?” he asked. “Having to take care of me. It must have been a lot of work for you, since you’re the only healer. But didn’t Sokka and your father help, too?”

“They would have,” she said. “If I had let them near you.” She closed her eyes. “But I didn’t. I didn’t let _anyone_ near you.

“I think that’s why Sokka got so worked up downstairs. I mean, a lot of the things I was doing, only I _could_ do. You can’t swallow in a coma, so I had to Bend water and broth down your throat past your windpipe to keep you from choking. No one else could do that. Only I could use waterbending on your wounds. Only I could draw urine away from your body. Even bathing you was a lot easier for me than it would have been for anyone else.”

Aang was staring at her. He’d had… absolutely no idea. _She did literally everything for him_ , Sokka had said, but he hadn’t thought… he hadn’t even _considered…_

“But I didn’t even let anyone else do the things they _could_ do. I didn’t let anyone else make your meals for you. I was afraid they’d put in some meat or fish by accident. I didn’t let anyone else rebandage your wounds for you, after I’d worked on them. I didn’t trust anyone else to do it right. I didn’t let anyone else change your clothes or your sheets after they’d been soiled. I didn’t let anyone else sit with you overnight, or roll you onto your sides so you didn’t get bed sores.

“I probably did go a little… overboard. I think Sokka and my Dad might have been worried.”

Aang was still staring. He knew he needed to say _something_ , he just didn’t know what. ‘Thank you’ didn’t even seem to _begin_ to cover it.

“Thank you,” he said, deciding that even if it wasn’t enough, it was a pretty good place to start. “For taking such good care of me. I’m sorry I never realized how much you had to do. I owe you my life.”

He reached for her hand. She let him take it.

“You don’t have to thank me,” she said. “You don’t have to be grateful. And you don’t have to feel indebted to me.”

Aang felt a peculiar emotion swelling in his chest - one he only felt when he was around Katara. He knew she didn’t expect any praise or gratitude. He knew she’d only done for him what she would have done for anyone. In that moment, he had simply been someone who needed her, and she had done what had to be done.

That capacity for selfless love and compassion was one of the reasons why he loved her. Watching her care for people always filled his heart with a kind of… overflowing pride. But, if he was absolutely honest with himself, it was always outlined by just the slightest tinge of… of directionless jealousy.

He knew it was selfish, but he didn’t want to be just one more person who needed her. He wanted to be the one she loved _most._

“There’s… one more thing you should know.” Her voice was tense and heavy, and instinctively, Aang squeezed her hand. “In my tribe, there’s this sort of… legend.

“I don’t think anyone’s really thought about it since before the war. But a long time ago, caring for a warrior who had been wounded in battle was considered a great honor. So great an honor, it was reserved just for the chief and the warrior’s brothers-in-arms. It was considered far too great an honor to be bestowed upon a _woman_.”

Her voice was like a whip on the last word, and Aang winced in sympathy for the man who had first told her this legend.

“The only woman considered honorable enough to care for a warrior’s wounds was his own wife. If another woman - a maiden - did care for him, it was like declaring herself his betrothed.”

Aang felt a twisted smile cross his face. _He_ had known he’d wanted to marry Katara, to never be apart from her, for years now. But for Katara, their relationship was still new. She had had doubts about the two of them. She probably still _did_ have doubts about the two of them. The fact that she would care for him like that, even knowing what others would see, spoke to how… _noble_ her spirit was.

A thought occurred to him, and he found himself smiling for real now. Even if it was all he could give her, he _could_ give her peace of mind. Not for nothing was he an Airbender; finding loopholes and opportunities was as natural to him as flying.

“Well,” he said, making his voice mock serious and bringing his free hand around to cup her cheek. He tipped up her face so she was looking at him. “Then I guess it’s a good think that we _are_ brothers-in-arms. Or sisters-in-arms?” he blinked. “Siblings-in-arms, I guess.”

For just a moment, he imagined there was sadness in her eyes. But then he blinked, and the madness passed.

“Thank you,” she said, smiling at him, placing her own hand on top of the one against her cheek. “Will you-” she stopped herself and looked away.

“Will I… what?” Aang asked.

She shook her head.

“No. It was stupid. Forget it.”

“Katara, _what_?” he insisted, rubbing his thumb across her cheekbone. He could feel her face getting warmer beneath his palm.

“Would you… kiss me? I mean - only if you want - if it’s not -”

He _knew_ she was about to say ‘too much trouble,’ and he _knew_ his heart would break if she voiced the words. So he brought their lips together before she could finish speaking.

It was only the second time they had kissed - well, _really_ kissed, by which Aang meant ‘kissed when Katara wanted it, too.’ He felt her smile beneath his lips, and he thought his heart might break anyway, for love of her.

“Come on,” he said, pulling away. “Didn’t someone say Sokka was ordering takeout? If we don’t get back downstairs, there won’t be anything left for us.”  


End file.
